Now Rann the Kite brings home the nightThat Mang the Bat sets free— The herds are shut in byre and hutFor loosed till dawn are we.This is the hour of pride and power,Talon and tush and claw.Oh, hear the call!—Good hunting allThat keep the Jungle Law!Night-Song in the JungleIt was seven o’clock of a very warm evening in theSeeonee hills when Father Wolf woke up from his day’srest, scratched himself, yawned, and spread out his pawsone after the other to get rid of the sleepy feeling in their tips. Mother Wolf lay with her big gray nose droppedacross her four tumbling, squealing cubs, and the moonshone into the mouth of the cave where they all lived.‘Augrh!’ said Father Wolf. ‘It is time to hunt again.’ Hewas going to spring down hill when a little shadow with abushy tail crossed the threshold and whined: ‘Good luckgo with you, O Chief of the Wolves. And good luck andstrong white teeth go with noble children that they maynever forget the hungry in this world.’

The Jungle Book

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241It was the jackal—Tabaqui, the Dish-licker—and thewolves of India despise Tabaqui because he runs aboutmaking mischief, and telling tales, and eating rags andpieces of leather from the village rubbish-heaps. But theyare afraid of him too, because Tabaqui, more than anyoneelse in the jungle, is apt to go mad, and then he forgetsthat he was ever afraid of anyone, and runs through theforest biting everything in his way. Even the tiger runs andhides when little Tabaqui goes mad, for madness is themost disgraceful thing that can overtake a wild creature.We call it hydrophobia, but they call it dewanee—themadness— and run.‘Enter, then, and look,’ said Father Wolf stiffly, ‘butthere is no food here.’‘For a wolf, no,’ said Tabaqui, ‘but for so mean aperson as myself a dry bone is a good feast. Who are we,the Gidur-log [the jackal people], to pick and choose?’ Hescuttled to the back of the cave, where he found the boneof a buck with some meat on it, and sat cracking the endmerrily.‘All thanks for this good meal,’ he said, licking his lips.‘How beautiful are the noble children! How large are their eyes! And so young too! Indeed, indeed, I might have